I always has this dilemma when I’m about to choose a tool to get the job done. Is that the better? I’m I loosing my time with this tool when there is another that does the job one hundred time better?

And then, came “the list” from Scott Hanselman. It’s a very complete one evaluated by someone who has experience with them. A lot of tools I’m using right now come directly from that list and has influenced my productivity a lot. For example :

• SlickRun
• Windows Live Writer
• FireBug
• TestDriven.NET
• Colibri
• Skype
• Acronis
• 7-Zip
• etc.

I highly encourage you to check “the list” and don’t hesitate to try some of them. You could easily find one that will stick around for a while.

Scott Hanselman’s 2007 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows

Some time ago, I listened a podcast from Scott Hanselman which discussed about how to be a better developer in 6 months. Since I’m a huge fan of motivation blog and personal improvement, this subject tickled me almost everyday. And now, I am ready to announce my plan which is ending at the end of february.

I’m will read a book every 2 weeks and do a review for each of them, for a total of 12 books. Here is the list I thoroughly choosed :

1. Windows Forms 2.0 Programming (Since this is what I am doing, maybe I can learn a few tips and tricks)
2. CLR via C#, Second Edition
3. Beautiful Code: Leading Programmers Explain How They Think
4. CSS: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition
5. Applying Domain-Driven Design and Patterns: With Examples in C# and .NET
6. Object Thinking (Reading it again…)
7. Code Complete (Already read, but very informative)
8. Head First : Design Pattern (So much images)
9. UML Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Standard Object Modeling Language, Third Edition
10. Beyond Code
11. The Algorithm Design Manual
12. Rapid Development

Then, I will regain my health back by doing exercise every day and try my best to eat healthy food. I want at least to loose 10 pounds.

I want to finalize and distribute a little home project I made to track weight lost, track food consumption and can be used as a journal tool.

And I need to give credit where it’s due. First of all, the guy who started it all : Justice Gray. I have also based my list of books on his because he seems to know a lot and he probably choose some really good books. I also want to thank Scott Hanselman (very very great blog) for making a podcast on this subject.

A lot happen in the past weeks. First of all, this blog has reached 1000 visits. I’m extremely proud of that and I will try to maintain this constant growth. Next, my house is almost done, finally. This is a Profab house which is in the NovoClimat category. I expect to move in in 2 or 3 weeks.

If you have been following my blog since the beginning, you probably know about Tower Defense Games. This is a real time killer. I have lost a lot of my free time just to see if I can get a level higher. Then I have turned to simple solution like the LifeHacker’s Invisibility Cloak which is really great. It blocks web site that you have added to this GreaseMonkey script. But another alternative that is simpler to use is the LeechBlock Firefox Add-On. With this one, you can’t deactivate it, if you have decided to use it. So it will really help I think .

Here is the second part of the Getting Start with Selenium IDE series. This part mainly cover the start of the test. The next part will feature the fun part, testing everything! Enjoy!!!

Structure of an html test

An html test is basically an html table. Each row is a command and each column has a specific purpose.

The Command column contains the command to be executed. Nothing more. The Target column is the element on the page on which the command will be executed, but sometime it can have an other purpose like the pause command. And finally the Value column contains the value on which something will be tested. By example, you can have the assertNotText command and the value column will be the text that should not be there.

First command of the test

With that being said, let’s start with some concrete stuff. First of all, you will want to open your website. I recommend to use the Base URL text field, in case the root of your web site change. Enter your URL in the base URL text field. Then, add the first command of your test, which will be open, the target will be /startpage.html (replace startpage.html by your start page or leave it empty). Execute the test to verify that you are on the wanted page.

Command explanation

A command is a JavaScript function. Another way to see at the Target and Value column is that each one is a parameter of the function.

Use the reference tab in your Selenium IDE to see which parameters are needed.

Command action and ActionAndWait

There is various command available and much of the action have an equivalent with the AndWait suffix. The action without the AndWait suffix will be executed by the test runner and go directly to the next. However, there is scenario where a postback will occur after a command and the page will no longer be available for seconds. This is where you need to use the command ending with AndWait. Then the action will be executed and when the page has returned from the server the next command will be executed.

Selenium IDE Getting Started Series

• Part 1 : Installation and first test

Great resource

• Automated Testing Of ASPNET Web Applications Using Selenium

Day 3 completed and I think I’m seeing progress. Right now, I’m completing 3 series of 10 push-ups on my knees. After day 10, I’m going to give a try without my knees.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, see this previous post : 30 Day Trial : Push-Up!

Feel free to post any comment with some sort of 30 day trial to get a new habit.